Jon Nakamatsu Net Worth, Income, Salary, Earnings, Biography

A native of San Jose, California, Jon Yasuhiro Nakamatsu (born 1968) is a Japanese American classical pianist who now lives in San Jose but travels often for performances around the world. He is the son of David Y. Nakamatsu (a San Jose engineer) and Karen F. Maeda Nakamatsu (a San Jose social worker) (city employee). At the tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas, in June 1997, Nakamatsu took home the Gold Medal as the top prize. Since 1981, he has been the first American to get this honour. 

He left his job as a high school German teacher immediately after winning the competition in order to pursue a career as a classical pianist. During his undergraduate and graduate studies, he did not attend a music conservatory or pursue a music-related degree. A tour of Spain with the San Jose Youth Symphony in the summer of 2005 included Nakamatsu’s performance of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2, and in June 2007, he travelled to Budapest, Prague, and Teplice with the Peninsula Youth Orchestra, also performing the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2. His summer 2008 tour with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra included performances of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and other works by the American composer.

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